Washington (TDI): US President Donald Trump on Thursday declined an offer from Russian President Vladimir Putin to voluntarily extend the New START treaty’s limits on strategic nuclear weapons for one year, signaling his preference to negotiate a “new, improved and modernized” agreement.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump described New START as “a badly negotiated deal” that is “being grossly violated,” referring to Putin’s 2023 suspension of on-site inspections and verification measures. The president suggested that any future arms control agreement should include China, which has so far declined to join negotiations.
The Russian proposal would have maintained the treaty’s 2010 limits of 1,550 deployed warheads on 700 delivery systems, including missiles, aircraft, and submarines, for a year. New START, the latest in a series of US-Russia arms control pacts dating back to the Cold War, was last extended for five years in 2021 by Putin and former President Joe Biden.
Trump’s decision has drawn concern from arms control advocates, who warn that the treaty’s expiration could accelerate a nuclear arms race and reduce transparency between the two largest nuclear powers. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the US would continue discussions with Russia, leaving the door open for dialogue.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also emphasized that Russia remains willing to engage constructively if Washington responds positively to Putin’s proposal. Meanwhile, the United Nations has urged both sides to restore the treaty to maintain global strategic stability.
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Analysts note that without New START, the US and Russia would face greater uncertainty about each other’s nuclear forces, increasing the incentive to expand arsenals.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that the treaty had effectively expired as of Thursday, stating that Moscow would consider “decisive military-technical countermeasures” if needed to safeguard national security, while remaining open to diplomatic engagement. The statement appeared to respond to US plans to potentially reload warheads removed from intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched systems under New START.
A bipartisan congressional commission in 2023 recommended preparing US forces to reload warheads as part of a strategy to counter simultaneous threats from Russia and China.
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Ukraine, still at war with Russia following Moscow’s 2022 invasion, criticized the treaty’s lapse, calling it a tool for “nuclear blackmail” aimed at undermining international support for Kyiv, according to Reuters.
Strategic nuclear weapons, which form the backbone of US and Russian deterrence, differ from tactical weapons with lower yields intended for battlefield use. Experts warn that without any agreement, both countries could rapidly deploy hundreds of additional warheads within a few years.
